Permission to Rest
The word 'rest' can bring with it so many responses. It can be interesting sometimes to pause and let a word move through us (saying it silently to yourself a few times), noticing what our own response is to it. Take a moment to try it.
What do you notice?
Do you feel a longing for it?
Do you sense a lack of it?
Do you find yourself resistant to it?
How does your body respond?
Does your breath change?
You might consider:
How easily do you give yourself permission for it?
How often do you create the conditions for it?
What barriers come between you and rest?
Permission to rest is something that I have to work on as much as anyone. I'm quite a 'doing' person by nature but over the years I've got better at recognising this and carving out time and creating spaces that are conducive to it (often away from my home where the list of 'thing to be done' is long).
We can all get a little hooked on doing, and many of us live within societies that feed us messages that busyness is a symbol of status and resting a sign of laziness. But the truth is that our mental and physical wellbeing requires that our doing is balanced with moments of being, activity balanced with rest, absorbing stimulation balanced with quiet reflection.
Many of us rest less and as a result feel quite restless.
Being intrigued by language and it's origins I found myself looking up the etymology of the word 'rest' to see if it would offer any glimpses of its importance. Here are some definitions that I found.
Old English ræste, reste "rest; a bed or couch; intermission of labor; mental peace, state of quiet or repose"
Dutch rust, Old High German rasta, German Rast "rest, peace, repose"
Old Norse rost "league, distance after which one rests"
Sense of "absence or cessation of motion" is from late 15c.
Middle English resten, from Old English ræstan, restan "take repose by lying down; cease from motion, work, or performance; be still or motionless; be undisturbed, be free from what disquiets"
I don't know about you, but when I read these definitions I feel my body softening and feeling yes, of course we need rest. I particularly love the definition to be "free from what disquiets".
As we move into holiday season many of us may have made plans to soak up some rest for ourselves. Some of us will be gearing up the busyness that comes with holidaying, (particularly if you have children). Some of us may be mourning the fact that life events make creating space to rest hard to access.
Perhaps we can therefore re-frame rest as something we offer ourselves permission to do in small pockets when larger doses are challenging.